Evidence mainly of an anecdotal nature indicates that vibration generated by road traffic can give rise to both architectural and more major structural damage to buildings. This fear or perception of damage has caused considerable concern to both the occupiers of buildings located near to traffic as well as more general concern expressed by such bodies as the civic trust and the historic buildings and monuments commission. Unfortunately, despite the widespread concern, there is little evidence of a substantive nature which can be used to either support or reject these perceptions. Buildings will become damaged by a range of natural processes and by other vibration-related but non-traffic sources and there remain considerable difficulties in isolating and defining the contribution of traffic vibrations to the overall damage occurring in buildings. This paper reviews the evidence for the perception of traffic vibration and damage in buildings, suggests possible damage mechanisms worthy of further study and outlines an appropriate research methodology. (a) for the covering abstract of the trrl research report in which this paper was published see irrd 816050. (this paper was also published in acoustics '87. Proceedings of the institute of acoustics, portsmouth 1987. See irrd 816055).
Abstract